Introductory description

While recent legal moves to (re-)criminalise interruptions of pregnancy worldwide have sparked a regained interest for abortion politics, discussions on motherhood and reproduction continue to be biased towards the Western, white, cis-heterosexual household. The pro-choice demand for access to free, safe, and legal abortion still overlooks the experiences of minorities, who on the contrary are continuously discouraged or prevented from reproducing. The concept of “Reproductive Justice” was coined in the mid-1990s to advocate for minority women’s right to bodily autonomy and safety throughout pregnancy, birth, and family-making. In addition to the right to choose not to have children, it puts to the fore right violations disproportionately and systematically affecting minority groups, such as forced and coerced sterilisation, still-birth, and other forms of obstetrical violence. This module goes beyond the human rights framework from which Reproductive Justice first emerged and examines the control of reproduction as a mechanism of oppression at global and local levels.

Module aims

Outline syllabus

This is an indicative module outline only to give an indication of the sort of topics that may be covered. Actual sessions held may differ.

SECTION 1: Understanding reproductive justice globally

1. US Black feminism and the birth of RJ
2. Modern colonial ideology and eugenics
3. International development and population control
   SECTION 2: Reproductive injustice in the 20th century
4. Stolen children 1: Australian Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islanders
5. Stolen children 2: La Reunion and the Creuse children
6. Forced and coerced sterilisation 1: Peru and Fujimorismo
7. Forced and coerced sterilisation 2: Czechia and Romani women
   SECTION 3: Reproductive futures
8. Queer and trans reproduction
9. Radical birth work

Learning outcomes

By the end of the module, students should be able to:

• Be familiar with the Black feminist literature that informs Reproductive Justice and understand the change of paradigm it introduced
• Apply a Reproductive Justice lens to international and national policy frameworks and learn to compare it with / distinguish it from hegemonic discursive frames in policy work
• Understand contemporary issues of reproductive injustice across the world in relation to modern colonial history
• Recognise the diversity and hierarchisation of embodied experiences of the perinatal and/or family-making
• Learn to think collectively through discussions and group assignments
• Address the aims and objectives of the module demonstrating close engagement with module materials

Indicative reading list

“Reproductive Justice”, SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Justice Collective: https://www.sistersong.net/reproductive-justice/
Bonaparte, Alicia D. and Julia Chinyere Oparah. Birthing Justice: Black Women, Pregnancy, and Childbirth. Routledge.
Bridges, Khiara. 2011. Reproducing Race: An Ethnography of Pregnancy as a Site of Racialization. University of California Press.
Davis, Dána‐Ain. 2019. Reproductive injustice: Racism, pregnancy, and premature birth. NYU Press.
Gerber Fried, Marlene, Elena Gutiérrez, Loretta Ross, and Jael Silliman. 2004. Undivided Rights: Women of Color Organize for Reproductive Justice. Haymarket Books.
Gumbs, Alexis Pauline, China Martens, and Mai’a Williams. 2016. Revolutionary Mothering: Love on the Front Lines. Publisher: PM Press.
Hall, Lucy B., Anna L. Weissman, and Laura J. Shepherd. 2020. Troubling Motherhood: Maternality in Global Politics. Oxford Studies in Gender and International Relations. Oxford University Press.
Hill Collins, Patricia. 2021. Black Feminist Thought : Knowledge, Consciousness, and the Politics of Empowerment. Perspectives on Gender (Routledge, New York). Routledge.
Kocze, A. "'Ally' or 'enemy'? Law and the forced and coerced sterilization of Romani women" Juridikum 4/2021 .
Oprea, Alexandra. 2017. “Toward the Recognition of Critical Race Theory in Human Rights Law: Roma Women’s Reproductive Rights”. Realizing Roma Rights edited by Jacqueline Bhabha, Andrzej Mirga and Margareta Matache. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: University of Pennsylvania Press.
Pande, Amrita. 2022. Birth controlled: Selective reproduction and neoliberal eugenics in South Africa and India. Manchester University Press.
Rich, Adrienne Cecile. 1976. Of Woman Born: Motherhood as Experience and Institution.
Roberts, Dorothy (1998) Killing the Black Body: Race, Reproduction, and the Meaning of Liberty.
Ross, Loretta J. “The Color of Choice: White Supremacy and Reproductive Justice.” In Color of Violence: The INCITE! Anthology, edited by INCITE! Women of Color Against Violence, 53–65. Duke University Press, 2016.
Ross, Loretta J. and Rickie Solinger. 2017. Reproductive Justice: An Introduction. University of California Press.
Ross, Loretta J., Lynn Roberts, Erika Derkas, Whitney Peoples, and Pamela Bridgewater Toure. 2017. Radical Reproductive Justice: Foundations, Theory, Practice, Critique. The Feminist Press.
Story, Kaila Adia, Edited by. Patricia Hill Collins : Reconceiving Motherhood. Bradford, ON: Demeter Press, 2014.

Interdisciplinary

Students will be expected to read literature from different disciplines. The module should attract students from a range of departments and diverse undergraduate backgrounds, and students will have the opportunity to adapt the assessment to their own disciplinary interests and skills.

Subject specific skills

• a systematic understanding of knowledge, and a critical awareness of current problems and/or new insights, much of which is at, or informed by, the forefront of their academic discipline, field of study or area of professional practice
• a comprehensive understanding of techniques applicable to their own research or advanced scholarship
• originality in the application of knowledge, together with a practical understanding of how established techniques of research and enquiry are used to create and interpret knowledge in the discipline
• conceptual understanding that enables the student: a) to evaluate critically current research and advanced scholarship in the discipline; b) to evaluate methodologies and develop critiques of them and, where appropriate, to propose new argument; and c) to continue to advance their knowledge and understanding, and to develop new skills to a high level.
• ability to deal with complex issues both systematically and creatively, make sound judgements in the absence of complete data, and communicate conclusions clearly to specialist and non-specialist audiences
• self-direction and originality in tackling and solving problems, and acting autonomously in planning and implementing tasks at a professional or equivalent level

Transferable skills

• the exercise of initiative and personal responsibility
• decision-making in complex and unpredictable situations
• the independent learning ability required for continuing professional development